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Is the I-16 a terrible aircraft?

It seems that Trotsky's accusations are true, because in the military operation on behalf of justice, the I-16, which had just entered service in the Red Army, was badly criticized, and few pilots liked this fat-headed bird with "very bad" handling.

Is this the case? The low rating of pilots is true, especially for pilots who have just come into contact with the I-16, this is a difficult dragon to control, and many people have paid with their lives for it.

Pilots generally reported that the I-16's maneuverability was quite bad, and it was not easy to fly at all, and they also reported that the plane's take-off and landing performance was very bad, especially when it was easy to enter the tailspin during a sharp jump, and some people even complained that the I-16 was a big chimney, and each flight was equivalent to smoking two packs of secondhand smoke. All in all, pilots prefer the I-15 and are a little daunted by it.

To be honest, the problems reported by the pilots are objective, and the handling of the I-16 is indeed "bad", but please note that this so-called bad does not mean that the aircraft is a stupid duck, the actual situation is the opposite, and the I-16 designed by Polikarpov is not stupid at all, but a little too flexible.

Let's put it this way, in order to compete with Sukhoi's I-14 project, Polikarpov maximized the maneuverability of the aircraft, and its center of gravity moved very little along the three axes, and the longitudinal unstable (Polikarpov may be the grandfather of the static dìng design). At the same time, the aileron of the I-16 is light and responsive. Good for rolling. This design allows the I-16 to make precise flips and S-shaped maneuvers. Its maneuverability was second to none among the monoplanes of its time!

But the problem is also here, because it is too sensitive, and the stability is very poor, for the average novice pilot, it is like driving F1 just after taking the driver's license. And Lao Bo only cared about perfecting the relevant design of the Yi-16, and did not consider designing a trainer type, plus Mao Zi's pilot foundation is not particularly solid, and he prefers to die in the air. Naturally, it becomes a novice "killer".

Let's put it this way, for the pilots of the I-16, after being familiar with its flight characteristics, and being able to maintain attention in flight, the agile handling of the I-16 will be their favorite, to put it bluntly, this is a fighter that is only suitable for skilled pilots.

As for the poor take-off and landing performance of the I-16, there are often flight accidents during take-off and landing, and even veterans, such as meritorious pilots like Chkalov, have crashed planes, and the reason is very simple. That's the retractable landing gear design of the I-16.

From the perspective of future development, retractable square landing gear is the trend. It is also a highlight of the I-16, but the first person to eat the crab has to pay a little price. At the time when the I-16 was born, the hydraulic booster device was not yet practical, so the landing gear of the I-16 was purely manual!

That's right, you read that right, it's purely manual. The pilot's method of retracting the landing gear before take-off and landing is to shake the handwheel in the cockpit (thirty-three turns). Think about it, big guy, when the pilot takes off and lands, he has to concentrate on the runway and master the attitude of the plane, and on the other hand, he has to fight against the landing gear retract handwheel - the action must not be stiff, otherwise the very agile I-16 will be planted on the ground!

Therefore, it is often seen that the flight trajectory of the I-16 during take-off and landing is constantly up and down, just like riding a roller coaster. Think about it, how stressed are the rookies who have just flown the I-16?

After talking about the problem of take-off and landing, let's take a look at the so-called jump in the middle of the tailspin, is there one? Yes, but this problem is not so terrible, according to the results of Chkalov's test flight, after falling into a tailspin during the jump, as long as you keep calm and follow the method of changing in the textbook, you will end up with peace and sound. The specific operation steps are to tilt one side of the wing and make a small radius turn, and gently push the rudder lever.

Even because of the outstanding performance of the I-16 production model changed to a spiral, it also caused the shock of the chief designer Polikarpov, according to Lao Bo's original estimate, the I-16 should be more dangerous!!

Finally, let's talk about the problem of excessive smoke in the I-16 cockpit, in fact, this is the engine exhaust gas brought into the cockpit by the air flow, especially the early models of the I-16-4 and I-16-5 use a closed cockpit, the exhaust gas slowly penetrates into the cockpit through the dashboard, and the "exhaustability" of the closed cockpit is relatively poor, which naturally makes the pilot more guilty. As long as the fairing of the nose is modified, the problem can be solved.

Let's put it this way, Trotsky's denunciation of the poor performance of the I-16 is more a political issue than a technical one. As the first monoplane fighter to be put into service in actual combat, the I-16 does have many minor problems, but these minor problems are not impossible to solve or overcome. As soon as the pilots got acquainted with the new fighter, most of the problems naturally disappeared. As for those minor problems, there is no hiding the flaw. And to completely deny the I-16 and the direction of the monoplane development for the sake of this little problem is inexplicable and irresponsible!

"I object to this statement," Li Xiaofeng immediately stood up and fought back against Trotsky head-on: "The I-16 has indeed exposed a series of problems, but these problems are not unsolvable, especially since it should be noted that the I-16 has just entered service in the Air Force for less than a year, and the pilot comrades are not yet familiar with this advanced fighter...... In such a situation, it is extremely stupid to rush to an irresponsible conclusion and even put an end to the development of monoplanes! ”

As soon as Trotsky was about to refute, Arksnis also stood up in support of Li Xiaofeng: "I agree with Comrade Andrei that it is too early to talk about the issue of the I-16 and the monoplane fighter, even if the I-16 exposes a lot of problems, but at the same time, we must also see that the I-16 fighter has also achieved quite a lot of results, and our pilot comrades have created a high-speed attack tactic that can be taken off with one blow (the I-16 is 80-100 kilometers faster than its contemporaries, especially the climb speed and dive speed are quite fast. If you avoid fighting in circles with your opponent. Adopt a 'hit and run' tactic. It is easy to achieve results), and it turns out that the I-16 is a good aircraft. What we need now is to continue to refine it and get pilots familiar with it faster! Instead of choking! ”

Still unconvinced, Trotsky insisted: "Then it would be irresponsible to stop the development of monoplanes for the time being until the I-16 is perfected and until it proves that the monoplane does represent the direction of future technological development, and to rush to launch a new model before the problem of the I-16 is resolved!" ”

"The I-20 project. It is the decision of the Politburo and the Military Commission to agree on Guò, and you alone say that you will get off the horse? Sverdlov could not bear it at last, and sarcastically reprimanded Trotsky.

Not to mention, this sentence really works, because as soon as Trotsky wanted to argue, he found that Stalin, Voroshilov, Ubolevich, and Budyonny were all staring at him with malicious intent, and the meaning was very clear: if he dared to fight again, he would face the end of a group fight.

It was then that Trotsky remembered that this was not the Politburo. He doesn't have an absolute upper hand in the Politburo, and he wants to compete in the one-sided Military Commission? That's really looking for abuse!

However, Trotsky's words also gave Li Xiaofeng a wake-up call. The I-20 project really needs to be careful, and it is better not to let Trotsky get hold of anything, or at least not to create a bunch of problems like the I-16.

So what is the situation of the Polikarpov-led I-20 project at this moment? In April 1935, the first prototype of the I-20 project, the TsKB-20, stepped off the drawing board, an aircraft completely different from the previous Soviet fighters, with a streamlined nose and a true all-metal structure, installed with a 12Ycrs water-cooled engine imported from France, with an empty weight of 2.1 tons and a maximum take-off weight of 2.75 tons.

In the first test flight, the fighter with a very backward cockpit flew at a maximum speed of 493 km/h with a heavy skid. In the subsequent test flight, the sled was removed, and the result was 530 kilometers.

However, please be aware of this but. Polikarpov does not seem to have stepped out of the circle of the I-16, and this new fighter is also a very problematic aircraft, especially its rear cockpit, which further exacerbates the longitudinal stability of the I-16. And the TsKB-20 turned out to be even more "dexterous" than the I-16, and in the seventeenth test flight took the test pilot Chkalov to take the big top during takeoff. During the twentieth test flight, he crashed into the ground with the test pilot, and the plane crashed and people died......

At that time, Yakov's report to Li Xiaofeng was: "The plane is extremely sensitive, and because it is very difficult to roll the center of gravity backwards, the range is quite limited......"

At that time, Li Xiaofeng was half cold, especially when he saw the photos of the TsKB-20 with his own eyes, he was sweating profusely, because this TsKB-20 is too similar to the historical MiG-1 developed based on the I-200 project, and the problem of the MiG-1 is almost exactly the same as that of the TsKB-20.

Li Xiaofeng immediately realized that it might be a mistake to ask Polikarpov to design a fighter, and Polikarpov was better suited to designing an interceptor. But the I-20 project has already begun, how can we change people in this half?

Just when Li Xiaofeng was entangled, Yakov brought him good news, Yakovlev, the chief designer of the Light Aircraft Design Bureau, designed an all-metal light aircraft, which was originally planned to participate in the Schneider Cup seaplane competition at Stalin's request, and showed good speed when using the malfunctioning AM-34 engine. Unfortunately, due to financial constraints, the design work has been slow and intermittent, and the aircraft that was supposed to participate in the 1933 competition was not completed until the second half of 1934.

Originally, this aircraft should have been forgotten in the corners of history and molded, and Yakovlev had to continue to nest long mushrooms in the light aircraft design bureau. But who let him run into another Yakov, who at that time to solve the fighter problem for his boss ran through all the design bureaus in order to find an aircraft that could be used to replace the Polikarpov I-20 project, and when he saw Yakovlev's design, his eyes immediately lit up.

This light water racer is fast (exceeding the minimum requirement of 450 km/h for the I-20 project) and has an all-metal construction (corrosion resistance), the only drawback is that the structure of the aircraft is fragile in order to reduce weight. If you want to transform it into a fighter that can take off and land on an aircraft carrier, I'm afraid you will have to greatly strengthen the structure!

In the spirit of a dead horse as a live horse doctor. Li Xiaofeng immediately provided Yakovlev with sufficient funds and a priority that he needed. After Yakovlev's intense design. Later it became known as the Yak-1. At that time, a new fighter was born without a design number at all (not a national project, naturally, there was no project number).

This single-seat fighter with a 12Ycrs engine, a cantilever lower wing, and a retractable landing gear is quite beautiful! The engine mounts are welded steel tubes, the bonnet is metal, and the rear fuselage is divided into two variants, the offshore version uses an all-metal structure, while the land-based model is covered with plywood at the top and bottom. The canopy is a three-section plexiglass structure with a sliding rear section in the middle. The pilot's seat was protected by armor plates 8 mm thick. The full armament consisted of a 20 mm cannon with its muzzle in the center of the propeller and two 7.62 mm machine guns in its nose.

The aircraft has an empty weight of 2.6 tons (marine model, land-based model 2.45 tons), a maximum take-off weight of 3.1 tons (marine model, land-based model 2.95 tons), a maximum speed of 490 kilometers per hour (marine model, land-based model 510 kilometers per hour), a ceiling of 10,000 meters, and a maximum range of 650 kilometers.

The prototype began its test flight in April 1935, and during the test flight, the aircraft was very well maneuvered, compared to the Y-20, which was too responsive and stable. Yakovlev's plane, in the words of the test pilot, "will be able to fly it by a pilot who has undergone 30 hours of primary flight training!" ”

Of course, this later Yak-1 was not without problems. First of all, the high-altitude performance is not ideal, this fighter is only suitable for operating in airspace below 5,000 meters, and the range is really small.

But in 1935, you can't ask too much, a fighter that can reach a maximum speed of more than 500 kilometers and is extremely comfortable to handle is already ideal.

Moreover, the test flight of the Yak-1 was also smoother than that of the I-20, and there were almost no serious flight accidents, in the words of the test pilot: "As long as you don't die yourself, a fool can fly the Yak-1 well." ”

This is also the reason why Li Xiaofeng is relatively calm in the face of the aggressive Trotsky, even if the I-20 project does not go well, the substitute Yak-1 can solve the problem. Even Li Xiaofeng wants Polikarpov to stop developing the I-20, the I-20 is really broken compared to the Yak-1, and let the old designers improve the I-15 and I-16.

However, Li Xiaofeng couldn't say this, after all, Polikarpov was on his side in the previous engine battle, and he always had to repay the favor, and with the prestige of the old man, it was too much to slap him in the face when he suddenly took it down. After thinking about it, Li Xiaofeng could only comfort himself: "If it doesn't work, let the I-20 do the work of an interceptor, and if it doesn't work, go to be a high-altitude reconnaissance plane!" ”

Compared with the fighter project, it was the bomber project that was more dangerous at that time, after all, the Stalin department was still on Li Xiaofeng's side in the fighter project, and his luck was not so good in the bomber project, because the cavalry system led by Stalin and Voroshilov was not much interested in long-range aviation, and they preferred the air force to focus on battlefield support tasks, which means that they were closer to Tukhachevsky and Trotsky in this regard.

For example, in this battle, the TB-1 and TB-3 were very bad, and they were powerless to suppress enemy airfields, and the close support mission was even more inadequate, and the value of long-range aviation was almost zero from this point of view. Because Stalin and Voroshilov were quite dissatisfied, they were quite annoyed by the long-range aviation, especially the B17, which was very expensive and resource-intensive.

Sure enough, after Trotsky opened fire on the B17 project, Stalin immediately became a silent Morcharin, and Voroshilov began to stand on the side of the Trotskyists, strongly questioning the rationality of the four-shot long-range bomber project:

"From the previous battles, we can see that only the attack aircraft units that can support the ground forces of the Red Army in combat, and the long-range bombers do not show any value...... An expensive four-engine bomber is enough to purchase two twin-engine bombers and four strike aircraft, and the latter can easily and happily complete battlefield support tasks...... I can't figure out why the B17 was procured, the battle proved that the Red Army did not need four-shot bombers! What the fighters desperately need are attack aircraft and twin-engine bombers! ”

Li Xiaofeng and Arxnis could only patiently explain: "The tables of TB-1 and TB-3 are really bad, but this does not mean that long-range aviation is useless. It can only be said that the performance of the TB-1 and TB-3 does not meet the needs of long-range aviation. The B17 is different in that it has a larger bomb load, range and speed. If there is a sufficient number of B17s, it is entirely possible for us to destroy the enemy's airfields and even directly hit the enemy's industrial facilities used in the war, such a strike capability is no less than battlefield support missions, and even be able to directly destroy the enemy's war aircraft! ”

"It's just your words!" Trotsky quipped.

"Isn't it lip service, after the B17 is put into service, we can see immediately that if there are a sufficient number of B17 bombers, now the Air Force can paralyze the enemy's airfields in Hailar and Manchuria, and even destroy the enemy's enemy planes at the airfields in Harbin, Qiqihar and Mukden, and even take off from Vladivostok to bomb Tokyo! And this is something that front-line aviation will definitely not be able to do! ”

Voroshilov sneered, and said in a strange manner: "But we don't need to bomb Harbin, Qiqihar and Mukden now, let alone Tokyo, what our fighters on the front line urgently need is to blow up the enemy's railway lines and destroy the enemy's fortifications, and these tasks B17 are absolutely impossible to complete!" ”

"It's true that the B17 can't do these tasks, but these tasks can be solved by dive bombers and twin-engine fast bombers in development. This is not contradictory to the B17 project! Li Xiaofeng glared at Voroshilov and emphasized: "Long-range aviation and front-line aviation are the two legs of the Air Force, and we cannot favor one over the other, and without any leg, our Air Force will become a cripple!" (The novel "Heavenly Soldiers in 1917" will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, and there will also be a 100% lottery gift for everyone!) Open WeChat now, click on the "+" sign in the upper right corner to "add friends", search for the official account "qdread" and follow, hurry up! (To be continued......)

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